Ashvin Kumar, who still awaits a censor certificate for the release of his film No Fathers In Kashmir, says censorship has no place in modern democracy.

The filmmaker, son of celebrated veteran fashion designer Ritu Kumar, is himself an Oscar nominated talent. He has been struggling to get a U/A certificate for his new movie.

“Censorship has no place in modern democracy, filmmakers should be celebrated not suspected, it’s a colonial anachronism in the era of internet.

While harassment may not be intentional or personal or political, it’s built into a system which makes it tough to give the benefit of doubt,” Ashvin tweeted.

No Fathers in Kashmir is a love story between two 16-year-olds whose fathers have disappeared in Kashmir with no certainty of their return.

In December, Ashvin had said that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) — after an inordinate delay of nearly 90 days and of giving him no clarity on what it was finding objectionable in the film — came up with a list of cuts that he and his team objected to as “the cuts proposed were based neither on reality nor on law”.

He went to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) for relief, but they returned it to the CBFC as the latter did not give us a legally-mandated hearing.

As Ashvin continues to wait for a censor certificate, he has found support from senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and the film’s actor Soni Razdan as well as filmmaker Pritish Nandy, who have lobbied for the film.

Ashvin has earlier made films like Inshallah, Football and Inshallah, Kashmir, both about Kashmir, which both won a National award. They too were both initially banned by the CBFC then, and after a protest by the filmmaker, were given the ‘A’ certificate.